^'""eules and regulations 






GOVERNING 



FOREST RESERVES 



Established Under Section 24 



J^GT OIP IMIT^I^OH: 3, 1891. 



(26 STATS., 1095.) 



WASHINGTON : 
GOVERNMENT FEINTING OFFICE. 

1897. 



RULES AND REGULATIONS 



GOVERNING 



FOREST RESERVES 



Established Under Section 24 



(26 STATS., 1095.) 



WASHINGTON : 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 

1897. 



Cfo-ia-U 



7^ 









24 19S0 



-th 






CIRCULAR. 
P. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, 

GENERAL LAND OFFICE, 

Washington, D. C, June SO, 1897. 

1. Under the authority vested in the Secretary of the Interior by the 
act of Congress, approved June 4, 1897, entitled "An act making appro- 
priations for sundry civil expenses of the Grovernment for the fiscal year 
ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and for other 
purposes," to make such rules and regulations and establish such serv- 
ice as will insure the objects for which forest reservations are created 
under section 24 of the act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1095), the fol- 
lowing rules and regulations are hereby prescribed and promulgated : 

OBJECT OF FOREST RESERVATION. 

2. Public forest reservations are established to protect and improve 
tiie forests for the purpose of securing a permanent suppl}^ of timber 
for the people and insuring conditions favorable to continuous water 
flow. 

3. It is the intention to exclude from these reservations, as far as 
possible, lands that are more valuable for the mineral therein, or for 
agriculture, than for forest purposes; and where such lands are embraced 
within the boundaries of a reservation, they may be restored to settle- 
ment, location, and entry. 

PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION OF LAW AND REGULATIONS. 

4. The law under which these regulations are made provides, that 
any violation of the provisions thereof, or of any rules and regulations 
thereunder, shall be punished as is provided for in the act of June 4, 
1888 (25 Stat., 166), amending section 5388 of the Revised Statutes, 
which reads as follows: 

That section fifty-three hundred and eighty-eight of the Revised Statutes of the 
United States be amended so as to read as follows: "Every person who unlawfully 
cuts, or aids or is employed in unlawfully cutting, or wantonly destroys or procures to 
be wantonly destroyed, any timber standing upon the land of the United States which, 
in pursuance of law, may be reserved or purchased for military or other purposes, or 
upon any Indian reservation, or lands belonging to or occupied by any tribe of Indians 
under authority of the United States, shall pay a fine of not more than five hundred 
dollars or be imprisoned not more than twelve months, or both, in the discretion of the 
court. ' ' 

This provision is additional to the penalties now existing in respect 
to punishment for depredations on the public timber. The Govern- 



ment has, also, all the common-law civil remedies, whether for^the pre- 
vention or redress of injuries, which individuals possess. 

5. The act of February 24, 1897 (29 Stat., 594), entitled ''An act to 
prevent forest fires on the public domain," provides. 

That any person who shall wilfully or maliciously set on fire, or cause to be set on 
fire, any timber, underbrush, or grass upon the public domain, or shall carelessly or 
negligently leave or sufier fire to burn unattended near any timber or other inflammable 
material, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, aud, upon conviction thereof in any 
district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the same, shall be fined in a 
sum not more than five thousand dollars or be imprisoned for a term of not more than 
two years, or both. 

Sec. 2. That any person who shall build a camp fire, or other fire, in or near any 
forest, timber, or other inflammable material upon the public domain, shall, before 
breaking camp or leaving said fire, totally extinguish the same. Any person failing to 
do so shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, aud, upon conviction thereof in any 
district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the same, shall be fined in a 
sum not more than one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned for a term of not more than 
one year, or both. 

Sec. 3. That in all cases arising under this act the fines collected shall be paid into 
the public-school fund of the county in which the lands where the otfense was com- 
mitted are situate. 

Large areas of the public forests are annually destroyed by fire, orig- 
inating in many instances through the carelessness of prospectors, 
campers, hunters, sheep herders, and others, while iu some cases the 
fires are started with malicious intent. So great is the importance of 
protecting forests from fire, tliat this Department will make special 
effort for the enforcement of the law against all persons guilty of start- 
ing or causing the spread of forest fires in the reservations in violation 
of the above provisions. 

6. The law of June 4, 1897, for forest reserve regulations also pro- 
vides, that 

The jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, over persons within such reservations shall 
not be affected or changed by reason of the existence of such reservations, except so far 
as the punishment of offenses against the United States therein is concerned; the intent 
and meaning of this provision being that the State wherein any such reservation is sit- 
uated shall not, by reason of the establishment thereof, lose its jurisdiction, nor the 
inhabitants thereof their rights and privileges as citizens, or be absolved from their 
duties as citizens of the State. 

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE USES. 

7. It is further provided, that 

Nothing herein shall be construed as prohibiting the egress or ingress of actual set- 
tlers residing Avithin the boiindaries of such reservations, or from crossing the same to 
and from their property or homes; and such wagon roads and other improvements may 
be constructed thereon as may be necessary to reach their homes and to utilize their 
pro])erty under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the 
Interior. Nor shall anything herein prohibit any person from entering upon such forest 
reservations for all proper and lawful purposes, including that of prospecting, locating. 



and developing the mineral resources thereof : Provided, That such persons comply with 
the rules and regulations covering such forest reservations. 

The settlers residing within the exterior boundaries of such forest reservations, or in 
the vicinity thereof, may maintain schools and churches within such reservation, and 
for that purpose may occupy any part of the said forest reservation, not exceeding two 
acres for each schoolhouse and one acre for a church. 

All waters on such reservations may be used for domestic, mining, milling, or irri- 
gation purposes, under the laws of the State wherein such forest reservations are situ- 
ated, or under the laws of the United States and the rules and regulations established 
thereunder. 

8. The public in entering, crossing and occupying the reserves, for 
the purposes enumerated in the law, are subject to a strict compliance 
with the rules and regulations governing the reserves. 

9. Private wagon roads and county roads may be constructed over 
the public lands in the reserves wherever they may be found necessary 
or useful, but no rights shall be acquired in said roads running over 
the public lands as against the United States. Before public timber, 
stone, or other material, can be taken for the construction of such roads, 
permission must first be obtained from the Secretary of the Interior. 
The application for such privilege should describe the location and 
direction of the road, its length and width, the probable quantity of 
material required, the location of such material, and its estimated 
value. 

10. The permission to occupy public lands in the reserves for school- 
houses and churches, as provided for in the law, is merely a privilege, 
and is subject to any future disposition that may be made of such tracts 
by the United States. 

11. The right of way in and across forest reservations for irrigating 
canals, ditches, flumes and pipes, reservoirs, electric power purposes, 
and for pipe lines, will be subject to existing laws and regulations. 

12. Under the term '-to regulate their occupancy and use", the Sec- 
retary of the Interior is authorized to grant such licenses and privi- 
leges, from time to time, as may seem to him proper and not inconsistent 
with the objects of the reservations nor incompatible with the public 
interests. 

13. The pasturing of live stock on the public lands in forest reserva- 
tions will not be interfered with, so long as it appears that injury is not 
being done to the forest growth, and the rights of others are not thereby 
jeopardized. The pasturing of sheep is, however, prohibited in all for- 
est reservations, except those in the States of Oregon and Washington, 
for the reason that sheep-grazing has been found injurious to the forest 
cover, and therefore of serious consequence in regions where the rain- 
fall is limited. The exception in favor of the States of Oregon and 
Washington is made because the continuous moisture and abundant 
rain-fall of the Cascade and Pacific Coast ranges make rapid renewal 
of herbage and undergrowth possible. Owners of sheep are required 



6 

to make application to the Commissioner of the General Laud Office 
for permission to pasture, stating the number of sheep and th^location 
on the reserves where it is desired to graze. Permission will be refused 
or revoked whenever it shall appear that sheep are pastured on parts 
of the reserves specially liable to injury, or upon and in the vicinity of 
the Bull Eun reserve, Crater Lake, Mount Hood, Mount Rainier, or 
other well-known places of public resort or reservoir suppl}'. Permis- 
sion will also cease upon proof of neglect as to the care of fires made 
b}^ herders, or of the violation by them of any of the forest reserve 
regulations. 

RELINQUISHMENT OF CLAIMS. 

14. The law provides that where a tract within a forest reservation 
is covered by an unperfected bona fide claim, or by a patent, the settler 
or owner may, if he so desires, relinquish the tract to the United States 
and select in lieu thereof a tract of vacant public land outside of the 
reservation, open to settlement, not exceeding in area the tract relin- 
quished. No charge is to be made for placing the new entry of record. 
This is in consideration of previous fees and commissions paid. Where 
the entry is in lieu of an unperfected one, the necessary fees in the 
making of final proof and issuance of certificate will be required. 
Where the entry is based on an unsurveyed claim, as provided for in 
paragraph 17 hereof, all fees and commissions attending entry must be 
paid, none having been paid previously. 

15. Where an application is made for change of entry under the 
above provision, it must be filed in the land office for the district in 
which the lieu selection lies. The application must describe the tract 
selected and the tract covered by the unperfected entry, and must be 
accompanied by a formal relinquishment to the United States of all 
right, title and interest in and to the tract embraced in said entry. 
There must also be filed with the application an affidavit, corroborated 
by at least two witnesses cognizant of the facts, showing the periods 
and length of claimant's residence on his relinquished claim, as credit 
for the time spent thereon will be allowed under the new entry in com- 
puting the period of residence required by law. Residence and improve- 
ments are requisite on the new entry, the same as on the old, subject 
only, in respect to residence, to a deduction of the period covered by 
the relinquished entry. 

16. Where final certificate or patent has issued, it will be necessary 
for the entryman or owner thereunder to execute a quit-claim deed to 
the United States, have the same recorded on the countj^ records, and 
furnish an abstract of title, duly authenticated, showing chain of title 
from the Government back again to the United States. The abstract of 
title should accompany the application for change of entry, which must be 
filed as required by paragraph 15, without the affidavit therein called for. 



17. In case a settler on an unsurveyed tract within a forest reserva- 
tion desires to make a change of settlement to land outside of the reser- 
vation and receive credit for previous residence, he should file his 
application as provided for in paragraph 15, including the affidavit as 
to residence therein requii-ed, and describing his unsurvej^ed claim with 
sufficient accuracy to enable the local land officers to approximately 
determine its location. 

18. All applications for change of entry or settlement must be for- 
warded by the local officers to the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office for consideration, together with report as to the status of the 
tract applied for. 

LOCATION AND ENTRY OF MINERAL LANDS. 

19. The law provides that " any mineral lands in any forest reserva- 
tion which have been or which may be shown to be such, and subject 
to entry under the existing mining laws of the United States and the 
rules and regulations applying thereto, shall continue to be subject to 
such location and entry", notwithstanding the reservation. This makes 
mineral lauds in the forest reserves subject to location and entry under 
the general mining laws in the usual manner. 

20. Owners of valid mining locations made and held in good faith 
under the mining laws of the United States and the regulations there- 
under, are authorized and permitted to fell and remove from such mining 
claims anj'^ timber growing thereon, for actual mining purposes in con- 
nection with the particular claim from which the timber is felled or 
removed. (For further use of timber by miners, see below under head- 
ing " Free Use of Timber and Stone".) 

FREE USE OP TIMBER AND STONE. 

21. The law provides, that 

The Secretary of the Interior may permit, under regulations to be prescribed by him, 
the use of timber and stone found upon such reservatinns, free of claarge, by bona fide 
settlers, miners, residents, and prospectors for minerals, for firewood, fencing, buildings, 
mining, prospecting, and other domestic purposes, as may be needed by such persons 
for such purposes; such timber to be used within the State or Territory, respectively, 
where such reservations may be located. 

This provision is limited to persons resident in forest reservations 
who have not a sufficient supply of timber or stone on their own claims 
or lands for the purposes enumerated, or for necessary use in develop- 
ing the mineral or other natural resources of the lands owned or occu- 
pied by them. Such persons, therefore, are permitted to take timber 
and stone from public lands in the forest reservations under the terms 
of the law above quoted, strictl}^ for their individual use on their own 
claims or lands owned or occupied by them, but not for sale or disposal, 
or use on other lands, or by other persons : Provided, that where the 



8 

stumpage value exceeds one hundred dollars, application must be made 
to and permission given by the Department. • 

SALE OF TIMBER. 

22. The following provision is made for the sale of timber within 
forest reservations in limited quantities : 

For the purpose of preserving the living and growing timber and promoting the 
younger growth on forest reservations, the Secretary of the Interior, under such rules 
and regulations as he shall prescribe, may cause to be designated and appraised so much 
of the dead, matured, or large gro wth of trees found upon such forest reservations as 
may be compatible with the utilization of the forests thereon, and may sell the same 
for not less than the appraised value in such quantities to each purchaser as he shall 
prescribe, to be used in the State or Territory in which such timber reservation may be 
situated, respectively, but not for export therefrom. IJefore such sale shall take place, 
notice thereof shall be giveu by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, for not 
less than sixty days, by publication in a newspaper of general circulation, published in 
the county in which the timber is situated, if any is therein published, and if not, then in 
a newspaper of general circulation published nearest to the reservation, and also in a 
newspaper of general circulation published at the capital of the State or Territory 
where such reservation exists; payments for such timber to be made to the receiver of 
the local land office of the district wherein said timber may be sold, under such rules 
and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe; and the moneys arising 
therefrom shall be accounted for by the receiver of such land office to the Commissioner 
of the General Land Office, in a separate account, and shall be covered into the Treasury. 
Such timber, before being sold, shall be marked and designated, and shall be cut and 
removed under the supervision of some person appointed for that purpose hy the Secre- 
tary of the Interior, not interested in the purchase or removal of such timber nor in the 
employment of the purchaser thereof. Such supervisor shall make a report in writing 
to the Commissioner of the General Land Office and to the receiver in the land office in 
which such reservation shall be located of his doings in the premises. 

The sale of timber is optional, and the Secretarj^ may exercise his 
discretion at all times as to the necessity or desirability of any sale. 

23. While sales of timber may be directed by this Department with- 
out previous request from private individuals, petitions from responsible 
persons for the sale of timber in particular localities will be considered. 
Such petitions must describe the laud upon which the timber stands by 
legal subdivisions, if surveyed ; if unsurveyed, as definitely as possible 
by natural land marks ; the character of the countrj^, whether rough, 
steep or mountainous, agricultural or mineral, or valuable chieflj' for 
its forest growth ; and state whether or not the removal of the timber 
would result injuriously to the objects of forest reservation. If any of 
the timber is dead, estimate the quantity in feet, board measure, with 
the value, and state whether killed bj^ fire or other cause. Of the live 
timber, state the different kinds and estimate the quantity of each kind 
in trees per acre. Estimate the average diameter of each kind of tim- 
ber, and estimate the number of trees of each kind per acre above the 
average diameter. State the number of trees of each kind above the 
average diameter it is desired to have oflered for sale, with an estimate 



9 

of the number of feet, board measure, therein, and an estimate of the 
value of the timber as it stands. These petitions must be filed in the 
proper local land office, for transmission to the Commissioner of the 
General Land Office. 

24. Before any sale is authorized, the timber will be examined and 
appraised, and other questions involved duly investigated, by an official 
designated for the purpose ; and upon his report action will be based. 

25. When a sale is ordered, notice thereof will be given by publica- 
tion by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, in accordance 
with the law above quoted ; and if the timber to be sold stands in more 
than one county, published notice will be given in each of the counties, 
in addition to the required general publication. 

26. The time and place of filing bids, and other information for a cor- 
rect understanding of the terms of each sale, will be given in the pub- 
lished notices. Timber is not to be sold for less than the appraised 
value, and when a bid is accepted a certificate of acceptance will be 
issued by the Commissioner of the General Land Office to the success- 
ful bidder, who, at the time of making payment, must present the same 
to the receiver of public moneys for the land district in which the 
timber stands. The Commissioner of the General Land Office must 
approve all sales, and he may, in sales in excess of five hundred dollars 
in value, make allotments of quantity to several bidders at a fixed price, 
if he deems proper, so as to avoid monopoly. The right is also reserved 
to reject any or all bids. A reasonable cash deposit with the proper 
receiver of public moneys, to accompany each bid, will be required. 

27. Within thirty days after notice to a bidder of an award of timber 
to him, paj'^ment must be made in full to the Receiver for the timber so 
awarded. The purchaser must have in hand the receipt of the Receiver 
for such payment before he will be allowed to cut, remove, or otherwise 
dispose of the timber in any manner. The timber must all be cut and 
removed within one year from the date of the notice by the Receiver of 
the award; failing to so do, the purchaser will forfeit his right to the 
timber left standing or unremoved and to his purchase mone5^ 

28. Sixty days notice must be given b}'^ the purchaser, througli the 
local land office, to the Commissioner of the General Land Office of the 
proposed date of cutting and removal of the timber, so that an official 
may be designated to supervise such cutting and removal, as required 
by the law. Upon application of purchasers, permits to erect temporary 
sawmills for the purpose of cutting or manufacturing timber purchased 
under this act may be granted by the Commissioner of the General 
Land Office, if not incompatible with the public interests. Instructions 
as to disposition of tops, brush and refuse, to be given through the 
supervisors in each case, must be strictly complied with, as a condition 
of said cutting and manufacture. 



10 

29. The act provides, that the timber sold shall be used iu the State 
or Territory in which the reservation is situated, and i§ not to be 
exported therefrom. Where a reservation lies in more than one State 
or Territory, this requires that the timber shall be used in the State or 
Territory where cut. 

30. Receivers of Public Monej^s will issue receipts in duplicate for 
moneys received in payment for timber, one of which will be given the 
purchaser, and the other will be transmitted to the Commissioner of the 
General Land Office iu a special letter, reference being made to the 
letter from the Commissioner authorizing the sale, by date and initial, 
and with title of case as therein named. Receivers will deposit to the 
credit of the United States all such moneys received, specifying that 
the same are on account of sales of public timber on forest reservations 
under the act of June 4, 1897. A separate monthly account-current 
(form 4-105) and quarterly condensed account (form 4-104) will be 
made to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, with a statement 
in relation to the receipts under the act as above specified. 

31. Special instructions will be issued for the guidance of officials 
designated to examine and appraise timber, to supervise its cutting and 
removal, and for carrying out other requirements connected therewith. 

BINGER HERMANN, 

Commmloner. 
Approved, June 30, 1897. 
C. N. Bliss, 

Secretary. 



The text of the law under which the above rules and regulations are 
prescribed is as follows : 

[Public— No. 2.] 

AN ACT making appropriatious for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the 
fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and for other 
purposes. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and Hov.se of Representatives of the United States 
of America in Congress assembled, That the following sums be, and the 
same are hereb}^, appropriated, for the objects hereinafter expressed, 
for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and ninety- 
eight, namely : 

'I^ 'T* ^ 5ji *jS 5jC 5fi 

For the survey of the public lands that have been or may hereafter 
be designated as forest reserves by Executive proclamation, under sec- 
tion twenty-four of the Act of Congress approved March third, eighteen 
hundred and uinetj'-one, entitled "An Act to repeal timber-culture laws, 
and for other purposes," and including public lands adjacent thereto, 
which may be designated for survey by the Secretary of the Interior, 
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to be immediately available : 



11 

Provided, That to remove auy doubt which may exist pertaining to the 
authority of the President thereunto, the President of the United 
States is hereby authorized and empowered to revoke, modify, or sus- 
pend any and all such Executive orders and proclamations, or any part 
thereof, from time to time as he shall deem best for the public interests : 
Provided, That the Executive orders and proclamations dated February 
twenty-second, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, setting apart and 
reserving certain lands in the States of Wyoming, Utah, Montana, 
Washington, Idaho, and South Dakota as forest reservations, be, and 
they are hereby, suspended, and the lands embraced therein restored 
to the public domain the same as though said orders and proclamations 
had not been issued : Provided farther, That lands embraced in such res- 
ervations not otherwise disposed of before March first, eighteen hun- 
dred and ninety-eight, shall again become subject to the operations of 
said orders and proclamations as now existing or hereafter modified by 
the President. 

The surveys herein provided for shall be made, under the supervision 
of the Director of the Geological Survey, by such person or persons as 
may be employed by or under him for that purpose, and shall be exe- 
cuted under instructions issued by the Secretary of the Interior ; and 
if subdivision surveys shall be found to be necessary, they shall be 
executed under the rectangular system, as now provided by law. The 
plats and field notes prepared shall be approved and certified to by the 
Director of the Geological Survey, and two copies of the field notes 
shall be returned, one for the files in the United States surveyor-gen- 
eral's office of the State in which the reserve is situated, the other in the 
General Land Oflice ; and twenty photolithographic copies of the plats 
shall be returned, one copy for the files in the United States survej^or- 
general's office of the State in which the reserve is situated ; the origi- 
nal plat and the other copies shall be filed in the General Land Office, 
and shall have the facsimile signature of the Director of the Survey 
attached. 

Such surveys, field notes, and plats thus returned shall have the 
same legal force and effect as heretofore given the surveys, field notes, 
and plats returned through the surveyors-general ; and such surveys, 
which include subdivision surveys under the rectangular system, shall 
be approved by the Commissioner of the General Land Office as in 
other cases, and properly certified copies thereof shall be filed in the 
respective land offices of the district in which such lauds are situated, 
as in other cases. All laws inconsistent with the provisions hereof are 
hereby declared inoperative as respects such survey : Provided, however, 
That a copy of every topographic map and other maps showing the 
distribution of the forests, together with such field notes as may be 
taken relating thereto, shall be certified thereto by the Director of the 
Survey and filed in the General Land Office. 

All public lands heretofore designated and reserved by the President 
of the United States under the provisions of the Act approved March 
third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, the orders for which shall be 
and remain in full force and efi'ect, unsuspended and unrevoked, and 
all public lands that may hereafter be set aside and reserved as public 
forest reserves under said act, shall be as far as practicable controlled 
and administered in accordance with the following provisions : 

No public forest reservation shall be established, except to improve 



12 

and protect the forest within the reservation, or for the purpose of 
securing favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish* a contin- 
uous supplj^ of timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the 
United States; but it is not the purpose or intent of these provisions, 
or of the Act providing for such reservations, to authorize the inclu- 
sion therein of lands more valuable for the mineral therein, or for agri- 
cultural purposes, than for forest purposes. 

The Secretary of the Interior shall make provisions for the protec- 
tion against destruction by fire and depredations upon the public for- 
ests and forest reservations which may have been set aside or which 
may be hereafter set aside under the said Act of March third, eighteen 
hundred and ninety-one, and which may be continued ; and he may 
make such rules and regulations and establish such service as will 
insure the objects of such reservations, namely, to regulate their occu- 
pancy and use and to preserve the forests thereon from destruction ; 
and any violation of the provisions of this Act or such rules and regu- 
lations shall be punished as is provided for in the Act of June fourth, 
eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, amending section fifty-three hun- 
dred and eighty-eight of the Revised Statutes of the United States. 

For the purpose of preserving the living and growing timber and 
promoting the younger growth on forest reservations, the Secretary of 
the Interior, under such rules and regulations as he shall prescribe, 
may cause to be designated and appraised so much of the dead, 
matured, or large growth of trees found upon such forest reservations 
as may be compatible with the utilization of the forests thereon, and 
may sell the same for not less than the appraised value in such quanti- 
ties to each purchaser as he shall prescribe, to be used in the State or 
Territory in which such timber reservation msiy be situated, respec- 
tively, but not for export therefrom. Before such sale shall take place, 
notice thereof shall be given by the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office, for not less than sixt}^ days, by publication in a newspaper of 
general circulation, published in the county in which the timber is situ- 
ated, if any is therein published, and if not, then in a newspaper of 
general circulation published nearest to the reservation, and also in a 
newspaper of general circulation published at the capital of the State 
or Territory where such reservation exists; payments for such timber 
to be made to the receiver of the local land office of the district wherein 
said timber may be sold, under such rules and regulations as the Secre- 
tary of the Interior may prescribe; and the moneys arising therefrom 
shall be accounted for by the receiver of such land office to the Com- 
missioner of the General Land Office, in a separate account, and shall 
be covered into the Treasury. Such timber, before being sold, shall be 
marked and designated, and shall be cut and removed under the super- 
vision of some person appointed for that purpose by the Secretary of 
the Interior, not interested in the purchase or removal of such timber 
nor in the employment of the purchaser thereof. Such supervisor shall 
make report in writing to the Commissioner of the General Land Office 
and to the receiver in the land office in which such reservation shall be 
located of his doings in the premises. 

The Secretary of the Interior may permit, under regulations to be 
prescribed by him, the use of timber and stone found upon such reser- 
vations, free of charge, by bona fide settlers, miners, residents, and 
prospectors for minerals, for firewood, fencing, buildings, mining, pros- 



13 

pecting, and other domestic purposes, as may be needed by such persons 
for such purposes; such timber to be used within the State or Territory, 
respectively, wliere such reservations may be located. 

Nothing herein shall be construed as prohibiting the egress or ingress 
of actual settlers residing within the boundaries of such reservations, 
or from crossing the same to and from their property or homes ; and 
such wagon roads and other improvements may be constructed thereon 
as may be necessary to reach their homes and to utilize their property 
under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary 
of the Interior. Nor shall anything herein prohibit any person from 
entering upon such forest reservations for all proper and lawful pur- 
poses, including that of prospecting, locating, and developing the mineral 
resources thereof: Provided, That such persons comply with the rules 
and regulations covering such forest reservations. 

That in cases in which a tract covered b}^ an unperfected bona fide 
claim or by a patent is included within the limits of a public forest 
reservation, the settler or owner thereof may, if he desires to do so, 
relinquish the tract to the Government, and may select in lieu thereof 
a tract of vacant land open to settlement not exceeding in area the tract 
covered by his claim or patent ; and no charge shall be made in such 
cases for making the entry of record or issuing the patent to cover the 
tract selected: Provided further, That in cases of unperfected claims the 
requirements of the laws respecting settlement, residence, improvements, 
and so forth, are complied with on the new claims, credit being allowed 
for the time spent on the relinquished claims. 

The settlers residing within the exterior boundaries of such forest reser- 
vations, or in the vicinity thereof, may maintain schools and churches 
within such reservation, and for that purpose may occupy any part of 
said forest reservation, not exceeding two acres for each schoolhovise 
and one acre for a church. 

The jurisdiction, both civil and criminal, over persons within such 
reservations shall not be affected or changed by reason of the existence 
of such reservations, except so far as the punishment of offenses against 
the United States therein is concerned ; the intent and meaning of this 
provision being that the State wherein any such reservation is situated 
shall not, by reason of the establishment thereof, lose its jurisdiction, 
nor the inhabitants thereof their rights and privileges as citizens, or be 
absolved from their duties as citizens of the State. 

All waters on such reservations may be used for domestic, mining, 
milling, or irrigation purposes, under the laws of the State wherein 
such forest reservations are situated, or under the laws of the United 
States and the rules and regulations established thereunder. 

Upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior, with the 
approval of the President, after sixty days' notice thereof, published in 
two papers of general circulation in the State or Territory wherein any 
forest reservation is situated, and near the said reservation, any public 
lands embraced within the limits of any forest reservation which, after 
due examination by personal inspection of a competent person appointed 
for that purpose by the Secretary of the Interior, shall be found better 
adapted for mining or for agricultural purposes than for forest usage, 
may be restored to the public domain. And any mineral lands in any 
forest reservation which have been or which may be shown to be such, 
and subject to entry under the existing mining laws of the United 



14 



States and the rules and regulations applying thereto, shall continue 
to be subject to such location and entry, notwithstanding any provisions 
herein contained. ^ j f 

The President is hereby authorized at any time to modify any Exec- 
utive order that has been or may hereafter be made establishing any 
forest reserve, and by such modification may reduce the area or chan/e 
the boundary lines of such reserve, or may vacate altogether any order 
creating such reserve. 

Approved, June 4, 1897. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



000^897 089 



